‘Code lockdown’ lifted at St. Luke’s Wood River

The St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center hospital building was placed on a “code lockdown” due to a threat Friday morning, according to hospital spokeswoman Joy Prudek.

Building occupants and staff members were alerted to the threat by an intercom announcement at roughly 10:50 a.m., Prudek told the Express. The lockdown was lifted at roughly 11:30 a.m., she said.

Prudek said she was unable to disclose the nature of the threat.

“Law enforcement was notified and was actively engaged,” she stated in an email at 1:45 p.m. Prudek said in a follow-up phone call that she was unsure which police agency was alerted.

Blaine County Sheriff Morgan Ballis told the Express shortly after 1 p.m. that he had not been advised of any lockdown procedure.

“It may have been an internal issue,” Ballis said.

Ketchum Police Chief Jamie Shaw and Hailey Police Chief Steve England also said they had not been alerted to any such incident. Idaho State Police spokesman Aaron Snell did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Answering a question from the Express about whether St. Luke’s Wood River is required to report internal threats that result in a lockdown to local law enforcement, Prudek said the hospital is not. However, “we typically do reach out to them,” and in other cases, law enforcement contacts the hospital first, she said.

Prudek said that Friday’s “partial” lockdown involved locking doors electronically, but patients were still able to leave the building through a designated exit monitored by hospital security staff.

Prudek said there are “a number of reasons” for a lockdown.

“It could be a threat to a patient or staff member, God forbid an active shooter, or an external threat, usually out of an abundance of caution,” she said.

She noted that code lockdowns are uncommon but “have been happening more frequently” at St. Luke’s Wood River, though she said she was unable to elaborate on reasons for the increase.

“It might be [every other] month, or twice in one month and then nothing the next month,” she said in a phone call, adding in an email that “we average about six events a year.”

Prudek said that in certain lockdown situations, the hospital will use the Everbridge mass notification platform to send out automatic phone calls and text messages to employees, but that “was not used today.”

She clarified in an email that if a decision is made to lock down a facility, “we send a text message to all employees, overhead announcements are made, and then leaders round to each floor/unit.”

Prudek said that she was not aware of any appointments that were affected, and no incoming patients or ambulances were diverted to alternative care centers during the temporary lockdown.

The Express will update this story as it develops.